Opstart Program to develop Cooperation across the Nordic Countries

Opstart is created to give collaborative projects within art and culture a good start.

The program supports projects with concrete ambitions to develop cooperation across the Nordic countries. In order to apply for the programme, at least two actors based in two different Nordic countries must have confirmed their participation in the Start-up project, and their roles must be described in the application. If there are only actors from two Nordic countries participating in the project, one of the project’s specific goals must be to expand Nordic participation. The application must clearly show how and which other actors from which countries the project group wishes to involve in the long term.

Funding Information

• You can apply for up to DKK 25,000. There is no requirement for own co-financing.

Project period

• You can only apply for activities that take place after you have received a response from the Nordic Cultural Foundation. The project can thus start 20 working days from the application date.
• As a rule, the project must be completed within one year from the project’s start date. Contact the secretariat if a granted project cannot be completed within the planned time frame.

Eligibility Criteria

• The Nordic countries are: Denmark, Finland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Åland. Furthermore, further international participation is welcome.
• You can send an application as an individual, group, institution, association, company, public or private organisation. Opstart is happy to support projects with a global vision that can help create new relevance for Nordic art and cultural collaborations. Therefore, you also do not need to live in the Nordics or have Nordic nationality to apply.
• Be aware that Opstart does not support:
  • projects outside the artistic or cultural field, such as sports events, business development, technology development, social purposes, journalism and social science.
  • school trips or individual research trips.
  • participation of individuals and groups in events and arrangements.
  • ready-made projects that can apply for project support. If you are in the process of applying for Project support, you must not apply for Start-up at the same time. In that case, include the development phase in your project grant application.

For more information, visit Nordic Culture Foundation.